The Story of a Song ~ Holidays in the Sun | Sex Pistols, 1977
Jamie Reid, Holidays in the Sun, 1977, cut-and-paste collage
A cheap holiday in other people’s misery
I don’t wanna holiday in the sun
I wanna go to the new Belsen
I wanna see some history
‘Cause now I got a reasonable economy
Oh, now I got a reason, now I got a reason
Now I got a reason and I’m still waiting
Now I got a reason, now I got a reason to be waiting
The Berlin Wall
In Sensurround sound in a two-inch wall
I was waiting for the communist call
I didn’t ask for sunshine and I got World War III
I’m looking over the wall and they’re looking at me
Now I got a reason, now I got a reason
Now I got a reason and I’m still waiting
Now I got a reason, now I got a reason to be waiting
The Berlin Wall
They’re staring all night and they’re staring all day
I had no reason to be here at all
And now I got a reason, it’s no real reason
And I’m waiting at Berlin Wall
I gotta go over the Berlin Wall
I don’t understand this bit at all
I’m gonna go over and over the Berlin Wall
I gotta go over the Berlin Wall
I’m gonna go over the Berlin Wall
Claustrophobia, there’s too much paranoia
There’s too many closets, oh, when will we fall?
And now I got a reason, it’s no real reason to be waiting
At Berlin Wall
I gotta go over the wall
I don’t understand this bit at all
This third-rate B-movie show
Cheap dialogue, cheap essential scenery
I gotta go over the wall
I wanna go over the Berlin Wall
Before they come over the Berlin Wall
I don’t understand this bit at all
I gotta go over the wall
I wanna go over the Berlin Wall
I gotta go over the Berlin Wall
Before they come over the Berlin Wall
I don’t understand this bit at all
Please don’t be waiting for me
The artwork was based on a real Belgian tourist brochure, with
the speech bubbles edited to include the lyrics of the song.
Released in October 1977 – two weeks prior to the ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The sex Pistols’ album – ‘Holidays in the Sun’ was the Sex Pistols fourth and final single with John Rotten. Rotten would leave the band less than four months later after an ill fated US tour. It was also the first Pistols track to list bassist Sid Vicious amongst the credits; despite the fact he didn’t play on the final version.
Jamie Reid, Holidays in the Sun, 1977 single back cover
Inspired by the Pistols “holiday” trip to the Berlin Wall in March 1977
“Being in London at the time made us feel like we were trapped in a prison camp environment. There was hatred and constant threat of violence. The best thing we could do was to go set up in a prison camp somewhere else. Berlin and its decadence was a good idea. The song came about from that. I loved Berlin. I loved the wall and the insanity of the place. The communists looked in on the circus atmosphere of West Berlin, which never went to sleep, and that would be their impression of the West.”
Jamie Reid, Holidays in the Sun, Sex Pistols, 1977, promotional poster
